Rawitsch's book was a labor of love

LAKEPORT -- It was 1913 and millions of Americans were beginning to believe that the American Dream might even include them. Japanese immigrants Jukichi and Ken Harada were two of those Americans.

America's progressive movement was making inroads with new labor and anti-trust legislation, and an overhaul of local governments notorious for their corruption.

In some states, including California, women could even vote.

But the "progressives" had their blind spots, and in California some of their success came at the expense of rampant racism against Japanese immigrants and their families.

Mark Rawitsch's first book, "The House on Lemon Street: Japanese Pioneers and the American Dream," chronicles the story of one Japanese-American family's pursuit of home-ownership -- a nearly impossible endeavor because of the widespread anti-Japanese sentiment in communities like Riverside, where the bourgeoning citrus industry had attracted large numbers of immigrants from Japan.

Californians, as progressive as they were in some areas, showed no sympathy for Asian immigrants, whom they feared as threats to their livelihoods and culture. Twenty years later, following the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, their fears reached a state of paranoia, resulting in 110, 000 Japanese-Americans being rounded up and shipped off to "war relocation camps" on the West Coast.

Of those interned, nearly 70,000 were American citizens, including the Harada children.

Rawitsch, the dean of instruction at Mendocino College's satellite campuses in Lakeport and Willits, shared parts of his multi-generational epic of the Harada Family on Sunday at a reception at Mendocino's Lake Center.

As a graduate student at the University of California, Riverside in 1976, while researching a paper on the local Japanese-American community, Rawitsch first encountered the Lemon Street house that would keep a grip on his imagination for the next 35 years.

"I didn't know what the reaction to the book would be," Rawitsch said. "My goal was to just finish it."

The reaction has been overwhelmingly positive. Earlier this year the book won the inaugural Crader Family Book Prize in American Values. It's also been praised by critics "as among the best books in Japanese-American studies" that also "contributes to local and public history."

Sandra Dallas of the Denver Post called it, "[A] highly engaging history of the California Japanese."

"I didn't know that the book would resonate with such a wide audience; not just people interested in Japanese-American history, but people interested in American history," Rawitsch said.

The Harada family's quest to build and keep their Riverside home started as a battle against the California Alien Land Law of 1913, the first of a series of discriminatory state laws that were regularly updated and upheld by both state and U.S. supreme courts.

All were aimed at keeping Japanese immigrants from owning land, which politicians hoped would discourage further immigration.

The villains in the story include California Governor Hiram Johnson, as "progressive" as any politician in the country in some areas, but a blatant opponent of Japanese immigration.

The heroes include members of the Harada family who persevered, never giving up the fight for their piece of the American Dream, and their friends and supporters in Riverside who came to their aid to save the house on Lemon Street, which is now a historical landmark.

Money wasn't a motivating factor in writing the book. "I've always been interested in history," Rawitsch said. "I probably spent $100,000 worth of time on the book, and I really don't care if it's a financial success. I get about a dollar for each book that's sold."

Rawitsch, a Mendocino College administrator for the past 24 years, made a few dollars on Sunday when about 20 of the 60 people at his presentation stuck around to purchase autographed copies.

Only 1,000 copies were printed, but the author said there's a chance a paperback edition will be forthcoming. When someone asked him what his next book will be, he said he didn't know if there would be a next book.

"But if there is," he said, "it'll be shorter."

Rich Mellott is a staff reporter for Lake County Publishing. Reach him at 263-5636, ext. 14, or rmellott@record-bee.com.